0624/1804

It's finally light enough to visit the allotment after work, and warm enough to eat my lunch outside in the sunshine.

I've just had a weekend of catching up (or attempting to at least!). I got lots of work done on the plot - it almost looks under control. I'm looking forward to a year of fruit, herbs and leaves (all low maintenance you see). There may also be the odd bean and perhaps the occasional beetroot...

All of a sudden it feels like spring, and there are plenty of wild plants to gather. I spotted some early hop shoots down by the river last week, although the ones on my allotment have yet to make an appearance. There are nettles and other green leaves in abundance now, and the first flowers are beginning to bloom. I love the plum and blackthorn blossom which is everywhere at the moment - if you see white or pink candyfloss trees remember to check them later in the year for potential harvests of fruit!

I picked some gorse flowers yesterday - I was originally considering making wine but I didn't have the motivation to pick enough for that so instead I made do with bright yellow gorse flower tea.

Happy Spring!

This is a cherry plum in full bloom :)

An urban forage...

This morning I gathered 3lb elderberries, 2lb plums (greengages and victoria), 8 apples and 1 grape (just testing it!) all within the space of about half an hour.

Then I tried to make elderberry vinegar, but the recipe I followed didn't seem to work out, so it's not really vinegar at all - more like ketchup. Or perhaps syrup with a kick. Sweet and sour. But very yummy all the same and I might just make some more!

I also started some greengage vodka. It's kind of experimental. I imagine it will be quite sweet, and hopefully it'll end up a nice golden colour...

The apples taste nice, although they are a bit grubby so need cutting up rather than blindly shovelling in to the mouth! They are windfalls from an overhanging garden tree. The Victoria plums were also from a garden tree. And so was the grape :)

It sort-of feels like Autumn already.

Sunflower seeds

Probably not for eating... probably for sowing next year. I have plans for a bit of guerilla gardening!

Sad news - the council have chopped down (or perhaps dug up) the cherry plums in Kings Road Garden. They produced such abundant sweet fruit, and were some of the first I found in Reading. Poor little trees :(

Cherry Plums

Last week my workmate and I collected *hundreds* of cherry plums. Far more than this tiny lunchbox could hold...



I don't really know what to do with them. I think they're a bit over-ripe for jam making. I've stashed them in the freezer until inspiration hits!

I did bake some tasty plum and apple pies though :)

Allotmenteering begins in earnest...

With the milder weather and the lighter mornings/evenings, I've decided it's time to get back to work. I spent the whole weekend* on the plot and got LOTS done!

I harvested my remaining celeriac, most of my jerusalem artichokes and a giant leek. I dug over and weeded a few beds, one of which I planted with garlic (better late than never!). I also extended the fence to stop pesky dogs pooing on my "lawn" (dogs aren't actually allowed on the allotments, but I've had a bit of trouble with them lately). I sowed some broad beans in old loo rolls too...

Most of my plot looks bare, but orderly. Apart from the above I'm currently growing rocket, spinach, oriental salad, onions, shallots, various herbs and various fruit. I'm hoping that this year I might get more than four plums!

There's a bit of wild stuff springing up too - I've gathered a few nettles and noticed some tiny new shoots of ground elder:



The allotments are a lovely place to hang out. This weekend I've enjoyed wildlife-watching - the Red Kites were flying very low, there were some interesting spiders surfing in one of my water butts, and there's a mystery creature (a rat?) living in my compost heap (which is actually quite useful cos he keeps digging out piles of fresh compost for me!).

I can't wait till it gets a bit warmer and I can start the BBQing...


*That may be a slight over-exaggeration!

Harvest 19/8/08

French beans, calabrese, foraged plums and damsons, tomatoes, courgette, potatoes.

Summer harvest begins...

Last night I brought home my first half-decent harvest from the allotment. I got a good handful of broad beans, cornsalad, perpetual spinach, and new potatoes. Yum!
Hopefully, from this point onwards, with a bit of careful planning, I'll have a fairly continuous supply of goodies...

The other day I picked a big bagful (is that a word?) of juicy cherries from a tree in a park just outside town. The park also has a few plum trees - I'm eagerly awaiting the fruit from those as they were very sweet and tasty last year. They were early too - along with some wild cherries they made a fine "June jam".